


Gyres

by bigpinkbaguette



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29228895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigpinkbaguette/pseuds/bigpinkbaguette
Summary: Marceline and Princess Bubblegum go on a skating trip-turned-swing-jumping contest.
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Gyres

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after s8 e16, "Wheels". The title, "Gyres", is a reference to that.

“C’mon!” Marceline urged. “If Jake’s granddaughter can do it, so can you.”

Bonnibel crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Please, Bronwyn’s probably been doing this her whole life, and in all of my eight hundred years, I have never once-”

“Just give it a try! I promise, I’m right here.” Marceline stretched out her arms. “You can hold on until you’re comfortable. I won’t judge.”

“Like heck you won’t,” Bonnie snorted, though she trusted that Marceline wouldn’t judge her. She just needed an excuse to stall.

“You can do it, Bonnibel!” She placed her foot on the skateboard as it threatened to roll down the slightly tilted concrete platform that the two girls were standing on. “I’ve got you. Just give it a try.”

Had it been anyone else, Bonnie would have come up with an excuse to go home. She generally didn’t have the time for... whatever this was, what with being the Princess of the Candy Kingdom, yet she found herself happy to come along when Marceline had invited her to the abandoned theme park. The park itself had been unofficially repurposed by generations of skaters who would use the twists and turns of the broken-down equipment to perform various feats of skill.

Marceline was among the first of these, though in her time roaming the land, she’d taken a break from skating. It was still something fun she could do every now and again, but she wasn’t nearly as invested in it as she had been in the past. Bonnie had been surprised at her friend’s sudden renewed interest in it.

Of course, around a half-hour after they’d arrived, it occurred to Bonnibel why Marceline had been so keen on being there at the time they were- Jake and his granddaughter, Bronwyn, had a skateboard stunt showdown. It was quite the spectacle, even if Bonnie wasn’t interested in the act of skating itself. Marceline, on the contrary, had a blast.

Bonnie and Marcy had stayed behind after the race had been over to explore the area a bit more, the latter of the two occasionally messing around with the abandoned structures. Bonnie would, for a majority of the trip, just watch, as she herself was nowhere near as courageous as her friend. Or, perhaps it was not her lack of courage, but it was due to her lack of flight capabilities. Either way, she found herself just watching in awe as Marceline flipped and turned with the board she had brought along.

Eventually, they found themselves at the pad of concrete on which Marcy had set down her board and attempted to coax Bonnie on, just to see what would happen if she gently pushed her along.

“You can’t say you don’t like it until you’ve at least tried it once,” Marceline reasoned. Bonnibel sighed.

“Fine. But only once.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Marceline grinned and placed her hands on Bonnie’s waist, gently at first, before pulling her up and hovering slightly to set her on top of the board. Bonnie gasped, and then scowled as her feet touched the board.

“I could have stepped on the board myself, you know.” She held her arms out at her sides, trying not to touch Marceline.

Though it was rather obvious that she was avoiding physical contact, Bonnie still found herself blushing when Marceline pointed it out, saying “Relax, Princess. I’m not going to bite you.” “I know that,” she muttered defensively. Marceline laughed. “Alright, now try to stay on the front half of the board. Don’t lock your knees.”

Why would she want to be on the front half? The princess thought about this from a scientific point of view. Wouldn’t she rather be on the center rather than on the front half? It didn’t make logical sense, but she trusted that Marceline knew what she was doing.

Bonnie bent her legs slightly, shuffling to the side a bit, but flinched, causing her to fall forward slightly. A pain shot through her skull as her head collided with Marceline’s. “Ouch!”

“Glob, Bonnibel,” Marceline teased as she tried to shift Bonnie back onto her feet. “Watch where you’re putting that hard head of yours, ‘mkay?”

Bonnie rubbed her head with one hand, resting the other on Marceline’s shoulder as she steadied herself. “I thought it was obvious that I’m not the hard-headed best friend. That’s your job.”

“I don’t know if I should be flattered that you just acknowledged me as your best friend or offended that you called me hard-headed.”

“Both, actually.”

“Aww,” Marceline smiled teasingly. “Thanks, Bonbon.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes jokingly.

“Right, so, um...” Marceline began to shift her position, keeping one arm wrapped around Bonnibel. She placed one foot just behind Bonnie’s on the board.

Her heart skipped a beat. “What are you doing?” “I can’t just push you; you’ll lose your balance.”

Marceline gently wedged herself under her friend’s arm. Bonnie let out a small squeak of surprise, and Marcy giggled. “Don’t get too excited.”

“No, I was-” Bonnie flushed a deep shade of pink. “You almost pushed me over.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she teased. “That’s what they all say.” She gripped Bonnie a little tighter. “You ready, Peebles?”

“Ready when you are,” Bonnie lied.

Marceline pushed forward gently with her other foot before allowing it to hover over the ground. The skateboard started moving slowly, and she pushed again, allowing them to lurch forward at a steady speed- not too slow, but not too fast.

Bonnie shut her eyes as they moved along the half-buried stretch of concrete. Her stomach fluttered as the speed picked up, and she leaned into Marceline, turning her head to the side. The skateboard accelerated, and Bonnibel held on to Marceline tighter and tighter, burying her face in her friend’s long, black hair.

Meanwhile, Marceline stared straight ahead, not quite sure how to feel considering the fact that Bonnie was practically snuggling into her. She’d just about forgotten to breathe, and she’d definitely forgotten that she was supposed to be managing the speed of the skateboard so it wouldn’t get out of control.

Bonnie finally opened one of her eyes, though she didn’t relax at all and remained clutched to Marceline, tighter than ever. Finally, she pulled her head back. “Hey, actually... this isn’t all that ba-”

Suddenly, the board hit the end of the concrete and flipped over, cutting her off and sending the girls flying. Marceline landed flat on her back. Bonnie tried to break her fall with her hand, but the force was too much, and so she collapsed nearly perpendicularly across her friend’s body.

“Ugh...” She used her other hand to push herself up. When she realized she had fallen on Marceline, she leaped back in surprise.

Marceline simply laid there, surprised at first having the wind knocked out of her, but almost immediately after Bonnie got off her, she began to laugh.

It wasn’t a teasing laugh, nor was it the bitter one that Bonnie had been exposed to so many times before. It was a purely gleeful, innocent laugh. It echoed through the night, bouncing off the trees.

Bonnie was simply baffled for almost a solid minute before she, too, found it in her to let out a small, goofy giggle.

The two girls laughed and laughed. Neither of them knew what exactly they were laughing about- it could have been the fact that they crashed, the way they fell, or the irony that Marceline had been distracted from her job keeping the board under control.

Bonnie flopped on her back and sighed. “Marcy, you’re lucky I like you,” she huffed jokingly.

“Ooh,” Marceline got her giggling under control and adopted the tone of an elementary school student making fun of their classmate. “Bonnie _likes_ me.” She flushed once more.

“Wait, I-”

“Bonnie likes Marcy, Bonnie likes Marcy,” Marceline chanted, rolling onto her side and sticking out her tongue.

“Marceline, you know it’s not like that,” Bonnie snapped, glancing over at her friend.

“It’s not?” she blurted, a look of hurt spreading across her face.

The two stared at each other in silence for several seconds, and both of them seemed a bit shocked at the response. “I mean- of course it isn’t,” Marceline snorted, though it was clear that she was just trying to backpedal. “I was just teasing. No need to get all sensitive, geez.” She shifted back onto her back, looking up at the sky.

“Marceline.” Bonnie didn’t look at her but moved her hand so it was touching the other girl’s. “I... you know how I feel,” she whispered solemnly. “I want to be with you. But I... I also promised that I wouldn’t hurt you again. And I don’t think I’m in the position to... you know, not do that. Not with all the stuff that’s been going on recently-”

“I understand,” Marceline said simply.

Bonnibel grew dizzy with relief. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Marcy sat up, grabbing hold of Bonnibel’s hand. “It’s cool. I respect that. Yeah, I wish we could spend more time together, and it bums me out that I can’t see you every day...” A pang of guilt made Bonnie wince. “...But hey, at least you’re here with me tonight.” Marceline stood up, still holding on to Bonnie’s hand. She smiled sweetly. “Let’s make the most of it.”

Bonnie gazed at Marcy with admiration briefly, before giving her a grin and standing up. “Let’s,” she agreed.

Marceline laughed. “Great. See those swings by the carousel?” She pointed to the area the two of them had hung out at for a little while before and during the race. “Do you think they’re safe?”

“Sure, as long as you don’t, like, jump on them,” Bonnie squinted at the swings before leaning back and shrugging. “I don’t really see any reason why they wouldn’t be.”

“Hmm...” Marceline still held Bonnie’s hand and used the other to tap the side of her face thoughtfully. “S'pose they’re safe to jump _off?_ ”

“ _What?_ ” Bonnibel cried in alarm.

Marcy laughed. “Bonbon, there’s nothing like having a swing-jumping competition.”

“Marbles, you can fly.” Bonnie pointed out. “Even if the idea of having a swing-jumping competition wasn’t insanely foolish and childish, there’s no way to guarantee that you wouldn’t cheat.”

“Guess you’ll just have to take my word for it,” Marceline kicked up her feet and floated back coolly.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. “Marceline, no.”

“One round?” Marcy nudged Bonnibel with her elbow.

“No.”

“Please?”

“Absolutely not.”

“For me?”

Bonnie sighed, realizing there was no way Marceline would let it go of this. “Fine.”

Marceline threw up her arms in celebration. “Hooray!”

“Shh!” Bonnie clapped her hand over Marcy’s mouth. “I’ll do it, but dear Glob, be quiet! You’re going to wake up every single organism in the entirety of Ooo!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Marceline replied dismissively. “Come on!” She grabbed Bonnie’s wrist and pulled her forward, quickly but gently. “We’re gonna run out of time!”

“Marceline, we literally have all night,” Bonnie corrected.

She ignored this, of course, quite possibly due to her unwarranted, childish excitement that she had gotten her friend to agree to have a swing-jumping contest with her.

Though Bonnie seemed reluctant, she was in actuality thrilled. She was excited to do just about anything with her best friend, whether that was skating, or swinging, or even just sitting there, talking. They’d practically ignored each other for several centuries, and though they’d definitely talked more recently, five years alone couldn’t make up for the five hundred they’d spent apart. The two of them had an eternity spanning out in front of them, though, so they would have plenty of time to catch up.

When they made it to the swing set, Marcy unwrapped the second swing from the top bar. Why someone would wrap the swing on the top bar was beyond Bonnie, but she decided not to put too much thought into it.

She sat down on the swing and kicked back, pumping her legs and swinging at a steady pace.

Marceline, on the other hand, put her back into the seat of the swing and floated several feet into the air before shifting onto her rear and releasing, sending herself forward at a high velocity.

“Hey, no fair!” Bonnie cried. She was admittedly having issues getting herself into a swinging rhythm.

As Marcy swing by with a woosh, she stuck out her tongue teasingly at Bonnibel. “It’s not cheating unless I fly after I jump!” She laughed.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, and the two girls continued swinging.

“I think I’m ready!” Marceline called to Bonnie.

“Wait, you’re seriously going to jump?” Bonnie asked incredulously.

“You thought I was joking?” Her tone matched Bonnie’s, but with a teasing edge to it. “Peebs, we can’t have a contest if I don’t set a record! What’s the worst that could happen? You break a bone or something?”

Bonnie was suddenly nervous. Breaking something did seem pretty bad. What if one of them got seriously hurt? She shrugged the thought. They were both adults, and one of them could fly. Instead, she called, “I don’t even have bones, dummy.”

Marceline giggled, though she knew Bonnie was only half-joking. She let go of one of the rusty chains that held the swing onto the bar that supported both of them, allowed the swing to go back once more, and then practically flung herself forward.

Hesitant to try for herself, Bonnie watched as Marceline sailed through the air, just to land somewhat gracefully several feet away from the swing set. She stood up straight and drew a line in the dirt about where she landed (Bonnie noticed that she’d perhaps put it a couple of inches forward, but decided against saying anything) denotated with a roughly-drawn letter M. She put her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out proudly. “Beat that, princess.”

“Something tells me this isn’t a good idea...” Bonnie mumbled, still gaining height with each swing.

Marceline’s form in the moonlit area disappeared, and before the princess could process what had happened, she felt the swing seat flip out from under her, sending her flying.

She screamed. Perhaps a half foot away from Marceline’s “record” line she’d drawn in the dirt with her boot was where Bonnie landed. She had no time to brace herself and landed face-first in the dust, completely opposite to the graceful descent that Marceline had made.

Still in shock, Bonnie waited a few seconds before she pulled her head up. Just a few inches from her nose was one of Marceline’s boots. She scrambled to sit up and gazed at Marceline, her lower lip quivering slightly.

Marceline looked at her and snorted in amusement. “Almost. You almost made it.” It took Bonnie a few seconds to realize that Marcy had practically pushed her out of the swing.

“Why did you...?”

Her friend gave her a grin. “If I hadn’t you would have psyched yourself out. It wasn’t too bad, I hope?” She contemplated this.

Apart from her face having a bit of dirt on it, Bonnie felt fine. “I... I guess.” She patted the ground before standing up.

“But I guess you’ll never be as good as the Vampire Queen, huh?” Marceline ironically flipped her hair and leaned in, so her face was nearly touching Bonnibel’s.

Bonnie poked her firmly in the chest. “You’re on.”

The two raced back to the swing set, Bonnie practically flinging herself backward. She got into a rhythm much faster than she had last time, and Marceline just sat in the swing and watched.

“Bet you can’t do it,” Marceline smirked.

“Bet I can,” Bonnie countered, gritting her teeth as she swung.

“Can’t- ohh...” Marceline winced as Bonnie let go. It was a promising leap, and Bonnie landed quite a bit ahead of Marceline’s record.

She landed on her feet, and though a pain shot up her legs, she turned around and crossed her arms, and, smug as can be, dragged her shoe in the dirt, labelling it with a letter B. “Can,” she huffed with a sense of finality.

“The game’s not over, princess,” Marceline growled. She stood up and stomped over to Bonnie, and they stood nose-to-nose. She gave her an intimidating glare, but Bonnibel appeared unfazed.

Bonnie looked down at her friend, who was just barely shorter. She would never have acted so smug if she weren’t simply messing around with Marceline. “Is it, now?”

“I’d get going, Bubblegum,” Marceline muttered. “It’ll be real sad when I beat your record before you do.”

Bonnie placed her hand on the side of Marceline’s face. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that, vampire,” she crooned sadistically.

Marceline flushed and looked away. “Yeah, well- well...” she spluttered, clearly thrown off her game. “I’ll uh... I’ll beat you, then.”

The princess laughed at this response. She turned and ruffled her hand through Marceline’s hair. “Sure, honey.”

Marceline’s ears twitched with a certain sense of agitation, though Bonnie doubted it was serious. “People are going to be talking about this swing-jumping context for _centuries,_ princess.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Marceline walked back to her swing and sat down in it, thinking for a second before smirking.

“Uh, oh,” Bonnie muttered half-jokingly. “What are you planning?”

As she slowly rose into the air, neither Bonnie nor Marcy said anything. When Marceline flew much higher than she had originally, however, Bonnie intervened.

“What are you doing?”

Marceline released, sending the swing down quickly. She didn’t even bother to go back again, as she’d built up just enough speed the first time. She flew once more through the air, though significantly less gracefully and without the help of her flight capabilities.

Bonnie wasn’t sure if that was legal, but figured it wouldn’t do anything to argue. She simply watched as Marcy sailed through the air. A few quick seconds passed, and Bonnibel could already tell that her record would be left in the dust.

Marceline used her shoulder to roll as she hit the ground and landed flat on her back. She seemed unfazed, letting out nothing but a small “oof”.

Of course, that was exactly the sort of thing she’d do, so Bonnie wasn’t surprised, but it didn’t stop her from gasping and dashing over to check on Marceline. “Marcy? Are you alright?” She offered her hand

She opened one eye. “Fantastic. Never been better.” Marceline grinned. She swung her arms and sat up. “Looks like you’ve got a new record to beat,” she noted.

“That shouldn’t be allowed,” Bonnie argued.

“Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?” Marcy challenged. This time, she would be the cocky one. “Are you saying you can’t beat me? That perhaps, I’ve... won?”

Bonnibel’s expression darkened. “I never said that, darling.”

Marceline let out a tiny, nervous laugh that turned into somewhat of a whimper. “Something tells me you’re taking this more seriously than you should be.” She moved so she was leaning back on her hands, her arms straight behind her in support.

“Hey, you’re the one who challenged _me,_ ” Bonnie noted. “I’m just doing my job as your rival and best friend.” She bowed dramatically, bending her head back so she could make eye contact with Marceline.

She frowned and pushed her friend away in a playful manner. “Remind me never to get in an argument with _you._ ”

Bonnie rolled her eyes “Be real, Marcy, you get in arguments with me all the time.”

“And you always win,” Marceline admitted.

“Yeah, and I’m also going to win this swing-jumping contest,” Bonnie added before dashing back to her spot on the swing set.

“Oh, come on!” Marcy groaned. “Just learn to accept defeat!”

“Never!” Bonnibel laughed, kicking off.

Marceline stood up and strolled to her own swing, though she didn’t kick off immediately. Instead, she would sit there, looking grumpy, and watching her friend as she gained height. Every time Bonnie swung by her, she would stick out her tongue at the princess.

“I hope you swing so fast that you tip out of the dang swing,” Marceline mumbled drily.

“What?” the princess asked. Despite the lightheartedness of the statement, she still felt a bit hurt. When they argued centuries ago, especially just before they broke off their relationship, Marceline had never seemed genuinely hurt, with the exception of at the very end. Admittedly, though, near the end, Bonnie didn’t pay as much attention to her. She pondered this as she swung. Of course, the situation was light-hearted, but the anxiety that she had somehow said something to Marceline that she had failed to be charming.

The swing squeaked as she reached the highest point, and Bonnie felt a jolt.

Apparently, Marcy felt it too. She tilted her head, puzzled.

Bonnibel felt as though the swing had gone lopsided, but she figured she would take a look at the problem after she jumped. She allowed the swing one more hearty motion before letting it reach the highest point forward.

She felt another jolt as the swing broke under her. Both of the girls gasped, and Bonnie flailed her arms out behind her, panicking.

“Bonnie!” Marceline cried, realizing that her friend was falling.

Bonnie hit the ground with a dull thud, first her back, then her head, and felt herself briefly slip out of consciousness.

The irony.

Bonnie blinked open her eyes. It took her a second to focus, and a tiny bit longer to recognize the face of her friend Marceline, who sat poised above her, wearing a worried expression.

“I would go as far as to venture...” Bonnie mumbled before feeling a pain shoot through her skull, or whatever in her body resembled one.

Marceline placed her hand on the side of her friend’s face and shushed her. “Calm down, I think you blacked out,” she muttered gently.

She glared at Marcy with a certain sense of hostility that derived from the fact that she’d been shushed. “...that I might have a concussion.”

Marcy let out a small, airy laugh. “You got that right, princess. Glob, you scared me.”

Bonnie tried to move her hand to rest it on top of Marcy’s, but winced in pain when she tried to pivot her wrist. “Ow-”

Marceline was suddenly even more worried. “Do you think you sprained something?”

“No,” Bonnie lied. “Either way, it’s fine. I can pretty much fix myself up in my lab back at home.”

“Do you need me to carry you? I mean, not taking you home is pretty much out of the question. I can carry you if you want.”

Bonnibel flushed. “No, I’m fine,” she declined simply.

“Alright,” Marcy stood up, scooping her friend up in her arms (which was rather awkward and difficult considering they were similar in height) with what seemed to be ease.

“What are you doing?” Bonnibel demanded. “Didn’t you ask me for a reason?”

“Oh, that wasn’t a question,” Marceline explained. “It was more of me telling you ‘I’m going to pick you up because you hurt yourself and you need it and you never let me help you and there’s nothing you can do about it’.”

Typical Marceline. Bonnie rolled her eyes. “I can _walk_ just fine,” she argued. “And I’m _so_ glad you asked my opinion as if it mattered,” she added sarcastically, wrapping one of her arms around Marcy’s neck so she wouldn’t fall.

Marceline looked down at her, hurt. “Wait, you were serious? I mean, I thought we were pretty close, but I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable if...”

Bonnie felt her face heat up. “I- it’s fine.”

“Good.” Marcy grinned, floating up into the night sky.

A shiver ran down Bonnie’s spine, causing Marceline to teasingly ask “Scared of flying, princess?”

“No,” Bonnibel flushed. “I’m just... it’s cold.” She practically curled up into her friend.

Marceline chuckled. “Not really, but I don’t have a problem with this clinginess. So long as you don’t start whining about it.”

“Marcyyyyy...” Bonnie took this as her cue to star whining. “It’s cold and I’m in pain...”

She laughed. “Where’s it hurt?”

Bonnie threw her head back melodramatically. “ _Everywhere!_ ”

“Do you need me to kiss it better?”

Bonnie’s heart skipped a beat. “No, I-”

Marcy gave her a quick, chaste kiss, causing her to blush furiously.

She glared puzzledly at her friend, a blur of emotions spinning around in her head- confusion, perplexity, that feeling you get when you really want to slap somebody but can’t find it in you to hurt them in any way, shape, or form. “Marcy, that-”

Marceline smiled sweetly. “I can’t kiss you everywhere, now, can I? Figured that’ll have to do.”

Bonnie’s head spun for a few more seconds before looking at the adorable, stupid grin that had developed from the small smile her friend had had just two seconds before. Her heart melted, and she leaned into Marceline’s chest.

“Aww...” Marceline patted Bonnie’s body with one of her hands. “She loves me.”

“This was a stupid date,” Bonnie noted, her voice slightly muffled.

“A date?” Marcy asked. “That’s what this was?”

“A platonic date.” Bonnie smiled.

“We’re platonically dating,” Marceline repeated.

Bonnie nodded in confirmation. “Platonic girlfriends.”

“Complete with a platonic kiss.”

“Of course,” Bonnie giggled.

“We should do this more often,” Marcy noted. “The whole platonically holding hands and platonically dating thing, I mean.”

“Definitely. Bestie.”

Marceline snorted at this. “Bestie? Really?”

“My bestie,” Bonnie deadpanned, adding to the comedic sense of the statement. “My girl best friend. My gal pal.”

“ _Gal pal!_ ” Marcy howled with laughter.


End file.
